Dust evacuating device



22, 1939- I s. o. HANNA 2,170,324

DUST EVACUATING DEVI CE Filed Sept. 15, 1937 wvvvvbm Samae/ Urr #022224 Patented Aug. 22, 1939 2,170,324

I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DUST EVACUATIN G DEVICE Samuel Orr Hanna, Jamestown, N. Y.

Application September 15, 1937, Serial No. 164,023

4 Claims. 51-273) This invention relates tosanding devices and exposed for contact with a given piece of maparticularly to means for evacuating dust thereterial. from as it accumulates during a sanding opera- Another object of the invention lies in the protion. vision of means for enclosing a sanding device Until comparatively recently it was not conwhich is arranged to create initial air currents to I sidered necessary, by the manufacturers at least, withdraw dust, as created, from the belt and to provide means for collecting and evacuating work and which may be coupled with power evacdust as it was generated during the operation of uating means.

a sanding machine. Some users of equipment Other and further objects and advantages of of this nature provided their own fan evacuators the invention. will be more fully understood from 10 because of the belief that the accumulated dust a consideration of the following specification was injurious to the workmen and also seriously taken in conjunction with the accompanying affected the working parts to all nearby machines. drawing and in which First attempts to collect and evacuate dust from Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a sanding device sanding devices consisted in partially enclosing embodying one form of the invention;

a pulley over which the sanding belt passed on Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of a part of leaving the work. These enclosures were not ex a structure embodying the invention, being taken pected to remove any great portion of the dust substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

since it was believed impossible to enclose a Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of another 80 sanding device in such a manner as to leave only portion of an enclosure for a sanding device, be-

a small portion of the belt exposed and at the ing taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. same time control the direction and movement 1; and

of the dust from the belt as the belt was being Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a pulley designed applied to a given piece of work. Even with the to create air currents within an enclosure for provision of evacuating fans these enclosures the purpose of evacuating dust. were incapable of accumulating and evacuating Reference is now had to the drawing and parmore than a small portion of the dust created. ticularly to Figure 1 wherein the numeral I0 is The present invention consists of a structure employed to generally indicate one form of sandadapted to enclose certain parts of a sanding deing device to which the invention is applicable.

80 vice for the purpose of collecting substantially all The sanding device comprises a. pair of spaced 80 the dust created during operation thereof. The base members I I. Secured in any suitable manenclosure is so arranged that a desired direcner to adjacent faces of the members H are tional movement of the dust is produced. Contracks l2. Mounted on wheels I3 is a work table necting the enclosure with an evacuating fan M. The wheels [3 may be o ved o t e '6 speeds removal of the dust but is not essential purpose of better fitting the tracks l2. A handle 85 I,"

for the successful use of the invention, l6 enables an operator of the device to move the One of the objects of the invention lies in the a table M for the purpose of locating any portion provision of means for collecting and removing of a piece of material directlybeneath the sanddust as it is produced during the operation of ing belt. u a sanding device. The members II are continued upwardly and Another object of the invention lies in the prorigidly by a portion l1. Secured to the portion vision of means for enclosing a pulley over which I! is a track l8 on which is mounted a carriage/ a sanding belt passes upon leaving a given piece l9 through Sets of rollers 26). The garri l9 of work. supports a sanding or polislring merfiber 2| which Another object of the invention lies in the proincludes a housing 22-and a vertically movable 45 vision of means for enclosing all of the pulleys member 23." Attached to the lower end of the and a portion of the belt. member 23 is a shoe 24.

Another object of the invention lies in the Adjacent the ends of portion H, the uprights provision of means for enclosing a sanding de- II are formed to provide ledges 26. These ledges vice which causes air currents generated by the are adapted to mount shelves 21. On the shelf 50 pulley to withdraw dust from the belt and. work 21 shown at the left of the drawin a motor s as it is created. mounted which in turn supports a pulley 28.

Another object of the invention lies in the The shelf 27 at the right of the drawing is proprovision of means for enclosing allof a sanding vided with a laterally movable portion which in \53 belt with the exception of that portion necessarily turn mounts a further pulley 28 A. An endless 55 belt 29 is mounted on the pulleys and when it is desired to vary the tension of the belt, the pulley 28 A may be laterally adjusted for this purpose. It will be noted that the upper intermediiate portion of the belt 29 is well above track l8 and carriage l9 and also that the lower intermediate portion of the belt lies beneath the shoe 24. When it is desired to sand a given piece of material located on the table M, the table is moved over the tracks l2 to position the work beneath the belt 29 and shoe 24. A suitable operating lever serves to move the member 23 downwardly and cause shoe 24 to depress the moving belt 29 into contact with the material on the table. For the purpose of a clearer understanding of the invention and its operation it is assumed that the belt 29 is to be moved in the direction indicated by the arrow A. r

The sanding device described is conventional in most respects and it is contemplated to enclose th s or any other type of sanding device in such a manner that substantially all of the dust created during the sanding operation is withdrawn from the material, the sanding belt and the ma chine itself. In providing an enclosure that will satisfactorily serve this purpose it must be kept in mind that the enclosure must be so arranged as to properly utilize any air currents developed in the operation of the machine, and further-- more, must be of such structure as not to inter fere with the proper operation of the device. With this in mind attention is directed 'to Figure 1 of the drawing wherein an enclosure is shown to comprise hoods 3| and The hood 3! includes a rear wall 33 and a front wall 35 which is in the nature of a door, being provided with a hinge structure 35 for pivotally mounting it on a curved wall 36. Adjacent the upper part of the hood 3| the curved wall 36 is formed with an exhaust duct 3?. It will be noted that the duct 3? is so located that it will readily take oiT any accumulated dust on the pulley 28 and belt 29 as said belt moves from off the material on the work table l4. The inner end of the hood Si is closed by a vertical wall 38. This wall is the full width of the hood but is cut'short adjacent the lower end to provide an opening 39. Through this opening the belt 29 passes as it leaves the work table. It will be noted that the belt is closely adjacent the lower edge of the wall 38 and that there is considerable space therebeneath. The opening 39 thus constitutes an. air intake and if the suction is sufficient, dust on the abrasive surface of the belt, as well as any "w dustwated on the material, will pass through this epeniwintethwod 3|. To further in causing dust toenter the" openingrse it is to be belt 29. The enclosure 46 may, as shown in the drawing, be permanently joined to and serve to connect hoods 3| and 32, or it may be a separate unit removably attached to the hoods. It is to be noted that the Walls 38 of hoods 3| and 32 stop short at the top wall of the hood and thereby provide end openings i'l. The opening shown may be somewhat reduced in size by an angle plate &8 which serves toprevent part of the dust drawn into hood 3| from passing along the enclosure 46 into hood 32. The enclosure M5 comprises a base wall 59, top wall 5|, and rear wall 52. The front of the enclosure is provided with a door 53 movable into open or closed position about hinges 54.

It has been found, under certain conditions of use, that dust gathers on the flanges of the pulley. To prevent such an accumulation of dust, as well as to create additional air currents, the inner surfaces of one or both pulleys may be provided'with a series of blades 56 which are arranged not only to deflect dust therefrom but to create air currents and direct them toward the duct 3'5.

Having described the structural features of the invention, operation thereof is as follows. It is assumed that a piece of material 51 is placed on the table I4 and the table moved transversely of the machine to locate the material, or any given part thereof, directly beneath shoe 24. As the shoe is moved downwardly it engages the moving belt and causes it to contactwith the material. Because the belt is moving in the direction indicated bythe arrow A, air currents moving in that direction will be created and dust will follow these air currents along the belt, toward and into the opening 38 in hood 3|. Due to the fact that the enclosures for the pulleys and belt are arranged to take advantage of and direct air currents generated during the operation of the device, it is possible in light sanding work to evacuate practically all of the dust without the aid of an evacuating fan and, under these circumstances, it will be understood that practically no dust passes through the enclosure 46 into hood 32, the entire accumulation of dust being taken care of by hood 3| and duct 3?. Furthermore, in certain types of machines it is unnecessary to provide a hood for each of the pulleys and a connecting enclosure,-such as the enclosure 35, one hood and duct being sufficient. However, in connection with heavy duty sanding, and also because of the high rate of speed at which sanding devices generally, operate, it will be found advisable to connect ducts 31 and 44 with an evacuating fan. Under these conditions a part ofthe dust in the hood 3| cannot be remembered that the belt 29 is moving thrcuglrwasfi out'ofductnt'i in the short time a given opening into the hood 3| and although the dust created may be at some distance from the opening, movement of the belt in that direction will cause said dust to flow along the belt into the opening and thence into the hood 3|. The rear wall 38 is joined to the shelf 2? of the machine in any suitable manner as by bolts M. These belts are provided with spacing sleeves 42 which locate the hood 3| slightly away from the machine bed and the driving motor.

The hood 32 is substantially identical with hood iii aiready described, with the exception that the laterally adustable pulley 28A necessitates slight elongation thereon This hood is also formed with a door-like front wall Q3 and a duct A further structure 46 is provided for the pur pose of enclosing the upper central portion of the portion 6fthe belt istr avelingnt rough the hood about pulley 28. Thus any dust re 'ng on the belt may become dislodged in the enclosure 4% from which it is carried into hood 32. As dust enters hood 32 it is withdrawn through duct 44.

It is to be understood that although the sanding belt has been considered to be mbving ina direction indicated by the arrow A and hood 3| adapted to receive the belt and evacuate the greater part of any dust produced during a sanding operation through duct 37., the belt 29 may be made to travel in an opposite direction, and under such conditions; hood 32, which is substantially identical with hood 3!, will receive and Tevacuatethegreater part of thedus't accumulated during the sanding-operation In other words,

the present invention has been designed to cover all practical conditions of use of a sanding device to which it is applicable.

Although applicant has shown and described only one modification of an enclosure for a sand ing device by means of which it is possible to remove dust as created, it will be understood that other modifications or adaptations of the present structure for other types of sanding devices are contemplated and may be made insofar as these modifications or adaptations may be within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the hereunto annexed claims.

Having thus set forth my invention what I claim as new and for which I desire protection by Letters Patent is:

1. In a dust evacuating device for a sanding machine having a pair of pulleys and an endless belt thereon, comprising hoods enclosing said. pulleys, said hoods having laterally inwardly directed openings adjacent the bottom thereof, and further inwardly directed openings adjacent the top thereof, said openings and said further openings serving to permit passage of said belt into and out of said hoods, and means enclosing only the upper portion of said belt between said hoods, said means being aligned with the further openings in said hoods.

2. In a dust evacuating device for a sanding machine having a work supporting table and a pair of pulleys adapted to mount an endless belt for movement over said table, said device comprising hoods enclosing said pulleys, means se-.

curing said hoods to said machine, the adjacent walls of said hoods having top and bottom openings, means connecting said top openings, said means enclosing only the upper portion of said belt, a door on said means, a door on each of said hoods, the doors of said hoods and said means when open exposing the ends of said top and bottom openings to facilitate mounting and removal of said belt with respect to said pulleys.

3. In a dust evacuating device for a sanding machine having a work supporting table and a pair of pulleys adapted to mount an endless belt for movement over said pulleys, said device comprising hoods enclosing said pulleys, means securing said hoods to said machine, the adjacent walls of said hoods having top and bottom openings, a substantially channel-shaped member connecting said hoods and being aligned with said top openings, and a cover plate on said member and cooperating therewith to form an enclosure for the upper portion of said belt.

4. A dust evacuating device for a sanding ma-v chine having a pair of pulleys adapted to mount an endless belt thereon comprising hoods enclosing said pulleys, said hoods having laterally 

